Beginning XNA 3.0 Game Programming: From Novice to Professional

CHAPTER 5Basics of Game Networking

This chapter introduces the basic concepts involved in creating games that support networking, so you'll be prepared to create a real multiplayer game in the next chapter. Before discussing the details of XNA support for networking, let's look at networked games in general and identify some of the most common problems faced when coding such games.

Introducing Multiplayer Games

Online multiplayer games, also known as network-enabled games or simply networked games, are hard to code. Period. That said, it's also important to state that, in XNA, this difficulty is not related to coding for connecting the machines (PC or Xbox 360) or making them communicate with each other. That's because XNA hides all complexities ...